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It occurs to me that while there are many instructions available on the internet for setting up one's Book of Shadows (BOS), there are substantially fewer on how to personalize it, and really make things your own. As such, here are some tips that can be used alone or en masse, where personalization of the BOS is concerned.
- Handwrite everything. Yes, it can be time consuming, especially if you type faster than you write, but the more time that is put into something, the more meaningful it will be. Handwriting also leaves your personal energy signature on the pages, imbuing them with a little bit of you.
- Make use of font, sizing, and other formatting options. Some people just can't go the handwritten route, and that's okay, provided that what is typed isn't just copy and paste. Take the time to bang things out on the keyboard, and then use some simple formatting tools to make pages well organized and attractive.
- Make the cover matter. If you intend to buy a pre-made BOS, make sure that the page layout is pleasing, and take a good look at the cover. It should either be visually pleasing to you, or should give you the option to adapt it if you aren't satisfied. If you're like me, using a three-ring binder, the front cover likely has a pocket allowing you to insert anything you want. Get creative: consider pictures, drawings, paintings, prints, printed images, collages, etc.
- Add pictures. You don't have to be a brilliant artist to add images to your BOS - that's what a camera is for! Photograph rituals, altar set-ups, your first robe, new tools, any gatherings you may go to, etc., and add these photos to the appropriate pages with a bit of glue or tape.
- Color-code. One of the most successful decisions I made in designing my BOS was to color-code it. I chose to highlight titles in green, tools needed in a spell or ritual in orange, and things to be spoken aloud in yellow. You can choose any colors you like, and can certainly highlight additional things if you feel there is something else you ought to draw attention to.
- Doodle in the margins. One way to add a little glamour to an otherwise text-coated page is to add small, meaningful drawings in the paper's margin. If you have instructions for a spell to draw love, for example, that requires some symbols of love, one could draw in stylized hearts, cupid silhouettes, roses, and/or doves. Just make sure things don't get too crazy - you need to be able to read the page, after all.
- Use colored ink. If a page is focused on a prosperity spell or chant, consider inking the page in green pen, or printing it in green, if you opt for the typed style. A friendship spell could go pink, a section on astral travel purple.
- Include examples. Whether you are writing the names and uses for plants or the recipe for an awesome tea you tried at your coven-mate's house, using a physical representation of that item in your BOS can help jog the memory and make the pages more special. Pressing flowers and leaves between the pages of a heavy dictionary for a few days can leave them ideal for insert into a BOS. You could slip in that tea bag, a knotted cord or other spell-leftover, or even a baggie of ingredients if you so chose.
- Use page protectors. This isn't so much a tip for personalization as it is for protection of your personalization. It can be really upsetting to go to the work of making a page stunning, only to ruin it by spilling candle wax all over it. Prevent such damage by using clear page protectors, which are inexpensive and will take the brunt in the wax spill, not the page.
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